McCarron lauds fight after Phoenix victory

Adelaide 36ers captain Mitch McCarron has hailed his team’s fight after Friday night’s 96-93 win against South East Melbourne Phoenix at the Entertainment Centre.

The home side went to the locker room at half time trailing by 18 points but exploded for a 31-14 third quarter to produce a stunning come from behind victory.

“We are good at fighting back, we have done it a lot this season,” McCarron to SEN SA 1629AM post-match.

“It would have been easy to just check out, we were 18 points down, but we fought hard.”

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During the final quarter, the 36ers had produced a 26-point turnaround from the main interval after DJ Vasiljevic swished a huge three-pointer to give Adelaide an 89-81 lead.

But the Phoenix came storming home late, reducing the margin to just two points, before McCarron held his nerve at the line.

“Some of those free throws there at the end hit every bit of iron before going down,” McCarron said.

“We have all been putting in the work and I have to pay credit to the guys, over the past few weeks we have had some tough losses, but we have been putting in the extra work.”

McCarron said the input from Trentyn Flowers and Kyrin Galloway were huge during the big third quarter comeback.

Galloway scored eight points, including two big three-pointers, and grabbed three rebounds in a six-minute cameo, while Flowers scored 13 points and hauled in nine rebounds in extended minutes.

“Those two guys are a point of difference for us off the bench and they have been shooting the ball very well,” McCarron said.

“We need those guys to keep bringing it every game, we are not a team who is going to rely on one or two guys every night to go crazy.

“Obviously, Vasiljevic has been great and Trey Kell has been consistent, we need multiple guys to get going.”

The 36ers found their form from beyond the arc after half time on Friday night, connecting on eight three-pointers in the after the main break after failing to hit one in the opening 20 minutes.

“At times throughout the season we have defended pretty well, it’s just we don’t score, we don’t put the ball in the basket,” McCarron said.

“You put pressure on your defense then to get stops and stops and stops, and it gets tiring because you can’t make a shot.

“It was nice to see the ball go through the hoop in the end.”

Adelaide will travel to New Zealand for a showdown with the Breakers in Christchurch on Thursday, November 30.